They're gonna punch out Cthulhu. With a 6-year-old sock.
Rise of the HydraclopsAirdates: January 19, 2015 note , February 23, 2015 note , April 19, 2015 note
Olive and Otto must locate and unearth a treasure chest and save humanity.
Tropes:
- Ahem: Olive puts a stop to Oscar's playing with Norman this way.
- Answer Cut: Olive asks Oscar and Ms. O what's arriving. Cut to a grey image of an angry Hydraclops looming over a city.
- Anticlimax Boss: The Hydraclops, which doesn't pose that much of a threat to the agents (or to the world, for that matter) and is defeated with Oscar's sock.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: For being a Shell-Shocked Veteran who lives in a world of oddities, Olive has quite the weirded-out reaction when Oscar shows off his collection of copper-minted shoes.
- Baby Talk: Otto does this when playing with Norman.
- Battle Cry: Olive, Otto and Oscar give off a collective one on their way to the lake with the weapon.
- Brand X: One of the airplane passengers in the Cold Open is reading a magazine titled Shmumber Nature, which is a play on the National Geographic magazine.
- The Chase: Olive and Oscar chase O'Malley down in order to obtain his Shmumbercrunch bar. It lasts all of ten seconds.
- Cool Sword: O'Malley has one that's about as big as him. And it glows blue. He nearly manages to knock Oscar out with it just by swinging it around.
- Continuity Nod: Just like in "Blob on the Job", Olaf displays a surprising amount of intelligence about something, to the confusion of others.
- Dragged by the Collar: Olaf manages to drag Ms. O away by the arm before she can think about taking someone else with her.
- Evolving Credits: This episode marks the first change in the opening credits. Clips from previous episodes such as "Bad Luck Bears" and "Skip Day" are swapped out for new ones from past episodes such as "Ms. O Uh-Oh" and "Oscar and the Oscar-bots", as well as one from (what was at the time) an upcoming episode, "Puppet Show".
- In addition, the writer and director credits are no longer shown on the Episode Title Card, instead being shown in white text on the bottom right of each episode (with the writer being shown first, followed by the director). This would become a mainstay for the show until Season 3.
- Exactly Exty Years Ago: Oscar explains that the Hydraclops rises out of the water every 100 years. Considering the current year is roughly estimated to be 2015, that means the Hydraclops previously rose in 1915 and will rise again in 2115.
- Expospeak Gag: When Oscar is showing the rest of the Main 4 his map.Oscar: This diagram shows where the weapon's buried. It also has some pictures on it, like this tree and the water-Ms. O: Quit the fancy talk! It's a map.Oscar: Oh yeah, that's a way better word for it!
- Flashback Cut: One occurs that shows a 5-year-old Oscar burying a powerful weapon that he knew would stop the Hydraclops when it came.
- Funny Background Event: While Oscar is on the phone with Ms. O, Olive and Otto are shown pacing around in frustration, with Olive doing her trademark Face Palm gesture.
- Hidden Depths: It's stated that Olaf helped Ms. O fend off the Hydraclops. Considering Ms. O is a Pintsized Powerhouse with a load of strength, it's possible Olaf might have demonstrated some strength of his own. Furthermore, he manages to help explain how the sock will defeat the Hydraclops.
- Hiroshima as a Unit of Measure: Oscar, Olive and Otto measure distances between the buried weapon and various spots using Normans (Norman being Oscar's favorite teddy bear), a pencil, and Oscar's copper shoes. When Olive asks why he didn't just use a ruler like everyone else does, he explains that if the Hydraclops managed to get ahold of the map, he wouldn't have Norman, the pencil, or the shoes to measure with, so it couldn't find the weapon.
- Homeworld Evacuation: Downplayed; Ms. O and Olaf work together to drive people away from the beach, but don't go any further into town than that.
- Hope Crusher: Oscar delves into this at the end of the episode and manages to invoke Here We Go Again!, by informing the group that the Hydraclops will return in 100 years...with his siblings. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from everyone as they rush to get their shoes and socks off.
- Idiot Ball: Oscar gets ahold of it quite a few times throughout the episode, first forgetting the day that the Hydraclops was emerging, and then forgetting the map that he, Olive and Otto need to locate the weapon used to defeat the Hydraclops.
- May I Borrow a Cup of Sugar?: A variant — Olive and Oscar attempt to retrieve the Shmumbercrunch bar from O'Malley. When he refuses, Olive finds a workaround and manages to use a pencil that is the same height as a substitute.
- Minimalist Cast: Apart from the client in the Cold Open, only the Main 4, Olaf, and the Hydraclops are featured.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: The Hydraclops looks like an octopus or a squid crossed with a cyclops that has a pig's nose.
- Monochrome to Color: Oscar shows the rest of the Main 4 a photo of a Hydraclops that is Deliberately Monochrome, remarking how terrifying the photo would be in color. The monster emerges later in its colorful glory.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The Hydraclops was hyped up in trailers for Odd Squad Saves the World as a huge threat that could potentially destroy the world, and is shown to be looming over a city at one point. However, in this episode, it remains primarily in the water, doesn't pose any real threat to the agents, and is defeated with one of Oscar's socks.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Otto refuses to go with Olive and Oscar to retrieve a Shmumbercrunch bar, instead wishing to stay behind and keep guard. Olive asks if he's sure, but on her partner's insistence, she and Oscar head off. Otto is then shown coddling Norman.
- Running Gag: Every time Oscar is called out on his measurement techniques, he responds with some variant of "Yeah, and just hand over the world to the Hydraclops!"
- Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: Oscar gives various "whee's" when he uses Norman to measure and acts defensive when Olive and Otto have confused reactions.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The "weapon" Oscar buried turns out to be a smelly sock. Although, considering the Hydraclops is an Anticlimax Boss, it seems fitting.
- Shout-Out: The Hydraclops bears a great resemblance to the Cthulhu Mythos.
- So What Do We Do Now?: The trope name is spoken verbatim by Otto when the efforts to find the final treasure chest prove to be in vain.Otto: What do we do now?Oscar: I don't know!Olive: But, you're supposed to know!Oscar: [through gritted teeth] I know!
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Naturally, this is Ms. O's specialty, but this episode has a unique variation of her appearing from inside a round desk where a Security agent usually sits.
- Team Power Walk: Parodied. The Main 4 and Olaf do this, complete with Slo Mo; however, Olaf, Olive and Otto are holding their noses due to the stench of the sock.
- Time Skip: This episode introduces the use of time cards, which feature the jackalope in the Odd Squad logo going "a little (even more) later" along with a piece of ballpark organ music and the sound of a ticking clock. It's not specified how much time passes in this episode in particular, though.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Oscar's message that "The Arrival is happening today".
- "X" Marks the Spot: Oscar's maps are drawn like this, with "X" being where his weapon is buried.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The first two treasure chests don't contain the weapon — rather, they contain maps to other treasure chests, much to Olive and Otto's annoyance.
Well, she'll be a year older in spirit, at least...
O is Not for OldAirdates: January 19, 2015 note , February 23, 2015 note , April 19, 2015 note
The agents throw a surprise party for Ms. O, but they have to stall her until it's ready.
Tropes:
- A Birthday, Not a Break: Ms. O is forced to fight a slew of oddities just before she can attend her party. However, she enjoys the fighting, stating that it helps her feel younger.
- Ageless Birthday Episode: It's Ms. O's birthday, but her age is never revealed. Considering she can control her aging, though, it's likely that she just decided not to age up a year and stay the same age.
- Argument of Contradictions: Two — the first argument is over the cake flavor, while the second argument is over what present to give. And each argument is between the Main 4 (bar Ms. O), Oren, and Olaf, with Polly joining in the second time around.
- Automatic Door Malfunction: Invoked by O'Malley when he forcefully closes the automatic doors in the tube lobby to prevent Oprah from going through them to get to the bullpen. Oprah, being a Pintsized Powerhouse, manages to slightly pry open both ten-ton doors, but O'Malley forcefully closes them again and then sends a few enemies down the tubes for her to fight as a diversion.
- The Bus Came Back: Polly Graph, who hasn't been seen since "Skip Day", returns in this episode.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Otto is apparently terrible at keeping secrets, which is why Olive never informed him about the party.
- Continuity Nod: The elderly mechanic from "Skip Day" returns here, this time back to his regular age after being turned into a child.
- A Scientist is shown inside a Scientist-oriented baby jumper at one point when O'Malley runs past her.
- Crazy-Prepared: Polly Graph is quick to hand out papers and writing utensils to the agents before anyone can even finish their sentences.
- Election Day Episode: In addition to being Ms. O's birthday, a voting process is used to determine what cake flavor should be at the party and what present Ms. O should receive, which makes the episode somewhat this.
- Excuse Me, Coming Through!: O'Malley does this twice, causing an agent to spill her papers on the floor.
- Hidden Depths: Ms. O is a surprisingly apt mechanic, having repaired a car's carburetor, timing belt, and pistons.
- Forgetful Jones: Oscar completely forgets the cake and the present for Ms. O, much to everyone's chagrin.
- Not a Game: The mechanic attempts to protest to Ms. O that there isn't a juice box hidden in the car he's working on. However, she refuses to believe him — and as it turns out, she's right: there is a juice box hidden in the car.Ms. O: You want it for yourself. And Ms. O don't play that.
- The Only One: Polly Graph is stated as being the only one who can organize the information.
- Percussive Maintenance: O'Malley invokes this in order to stall for time, banging on the automatic double-doors to fool Ms. O into thinking he's fixing them.
- Shouting Free-for-All: Employed enough to the point where it becomes a Running Gag.
- Surprise Party: The agents are throwing one for Ms. O. However, she manages to come back before things are entirely set up, which complicates the setup.
